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SEATTLE - It came as no surprise to Lofa Tatupu that the first question out of a reporter's mouth would be, "What in the world happened to the Seahawks?"

After all, it's the question that the rest of the NFL is asking.

"It's incredibly frustrating," Seattle's middle linebacker said Thursday. "We've got a good team and we know it. And it's just been an off year for us. There have been a number of reasons why, and I don't really like to comment on it, but we got hit by the injury bug, and we lost a lot of key guys."

Injuries have been a bane to the Seahawks, who will bring a 2-10 record into today's game at Qwest Field (4:05 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12) against the 7-5 New England Patriots, the latter desperately battling to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, the Norfolk native and former Xaverian High standout, has been grappling with back issues all season long and was listed as doubtful for the game on Friday. And that's just the tip of the iceberg for the Seahawks, who put their 11th player on injured reserve late last week when starting left guard Mike Wahle was shelved with a shoulder injury. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Seattle has lost six games by 10 points or fewer and four by six or fewer, including three of their last four losses.

"We've been resilient," said Tatupu, the former King Philip Regional High School star. "We fought back and we've been in a few of those games. It's really just been a trying season and something we're going to continue to fight and try to finish, and hopefully bounce back next season.

"I don't see this as something that's going to re-occur," he said. "It's not in our nature. We've got a lot of great guys who are accustomed to winning, and so no one's happy with where we are right now. We're going to do our best to overcome this."

Tatupu, the second-leading tackler on the team with 74, said the 'Hawks can't seem to get all phases of the game executing at the same time.

"For whatever reason, things haven't worked," he said. "Offense hasn't been firing, but our defense has been holding opponents to low scores. Some days our offense hasn't been able to get in the end zone and the defense has to come up with a couple more stops and provide the offense with more opportunities. I think our special teams have been the only phase of the team that has been consistent and played tough, very competitive in every game."

It's particularly maddening for Tatupu, who went to a Super Bowl in his rookie year and has been to three Pro Bowls in three previous NFL seasons. He believes that he's a better football player now than he was as a raw rookie out of Pete Carroll's Southern Cal juggernaut, but that's not translating into better performance or more wins this year.

"Sometimes I say, 'man, there's a lot of things that I messed up as a player in my first year or two, and we were still winning.' When you're winning, it kind of covers up those mistakes," he said. "But when you're losing, it's magnified. And it's crazy that now that I am more on top of my game and doing what I'm supposed to do, things aren't falling as smoothly.

"I've thought about that and I've turned over every stone trying to find the reasons for the lack of success that we've had," he said. "It's just been a weird year for us. I can't really put my thumb on anything in particular that it's been."

Time is ticking down on the Mike Holmgren era in Seattle, as well. The veteran coach who brought Seattle to Super Bowl XL (and, of course, beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI with the Packers) is retiring at the end of the season and turning the reins over to former Falcons' head coach Jim Mora, who has served as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the past two seasons.

Having Mora in place as Holmgren's successor has helped alleviate any fears the Seahawks have had about the impending change, Tatupu said. "We've gotten to know Jim or the last few years, he's been on the staff and he's working with us every day," Tatupu said. "Just like he is feeling out the team, we're getting to know him and his personality. He's a very, very competitive guy ... he'll take over some of our drills in practice, he'll try to play some quarterback back there, just to give us a look at what he thinks the quarterback will do. He's got a pretty good arm, he stays in shape, but we get to him every now and then and pick him off.

"I think we'll be fine going into the future," Tatupu added. "We're definitely going to miss Mike ... I'm just thankful for all he's done for me, taking this team to a Super Bowl and making them a contender year in and year out. When he took this team over several years back, they weren't known as a playoff team. So the job he's done has been amazing, and I'm just thankful that he's given me the opportunity to play in this game."

Tatupu prepared this week to face a former teammate and good friend, Patriots' quarterback Matt Cassel. But he admitted that there's just a touch of disappointment that Tom Brady won't be on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

"There's still a kid inside of me, a Patriot fan at heart, and it was tough to see Tom Brady go down ... especially because as a competitor, I want to play Tom Brady," Tatupu said. "I feel bad for Tom, but had that not happened, who might have ever heard of Matt Cassel? So I'm happy in that regards that some good has come of it, that Matt will maybe go out as a free agent and get signed by somebody, and Tom will come back with the Patriots. Maybe happily-ever-after for both sides."

One thing that will be in the Seahawks' favor today is one of the loudest fan bases in all of football. The Patriots have never visited Qwest Field - their last trip to Seattle was in 1993 at the Kingdome - but they've been warned, and prepared for the noise by cranking up the loudspeakers in the Dana-Farber Field House.

Good luck, said Tatupu.

"They might think they're ready for it, but there's no way they can be prepared for it," he said. "I'm out there in the huddle and I can't even tell my defense anything. They can't hear me. I have to start signaling them. For that to take place, you know you've got something special with the fans."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.